Lido Beach emergency renourishment project past the halfway mark, city manager reports

Goal is for completion in early March

Progress is being made on Lido Beach, as shown in this photo in City Manager Tom Barwin’s Feb. 8 newsletter. Image courtesy City of Sarasota

The City of Sarasota’s contractor has continued “to make substantial progress on the Lido Beach emergency renourishment project,” City Manager Tom Barwin reported in his Feb. 8 newsletter.

As of that date, he noted, approximately 55% of the work was complete. Earlier that week, he continued, “crews were working on a 400-foot section of beach at Taft Drive and the Limetree Beach Resort and were expected to advance as far south as The Beach Club by week’s end.”

Sand ramps were being constructed over the pipeline at multiple locations to provide access to the Gulf of Mexico, Barwin continued, and fencing was being erected around construction areas and equipment. “Although it can be an impressive sight to view this work being done up close,” Barwin wrote, “please be mindful of your surroundings so that you can remain safe in these active construction zones.”

The contractor has lost several days of work because of weather conditions and equipment delays since the project started in November 2018, Barwin pointed out, “but crews are working diligently to have the project wrapped up by early March.”

“We’re encouraged by the results so far, that Lido Beach will be shored up and ready for the start of next hurricane season and until the start of the long-term U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project in the fall,” Barwin concluded his update.

The long-term project, however, remains the focus of two legal challenges — one in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court (see the related story in this issue) and one in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.